Yamaha Trademark Lawsuit Concluded

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Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. says that all payments have been made in the lawsuit it filed against four Chinese companies for trademark infringement regarding Yamaha Motor trademarks.

Yamaha’s suit, filed in October 2002 at the Jiangsu Higher People's Court and closed with a judgment of the Supreme People's Court of the People’s Republic of China on June 5, 2007, has now reached full conclusion with the final payment of compensation dictated by the Supreme Court decision.

The final payment of the 8,300,440.43 yuan ($1,212,610) specified in the Supreme Court decision was received Oct. 23, thus concluding the case in accordance with Yamaha Motor's original claims.

(2) For the three companies to publish an apology in Motuoche Shangqing, a motorcycle magazine published in China;

(3) For Zhejiang Huatian to pay compensation to the amount of 8,300,440.43 yuan ($1,212,610), of which Taizhou Jiaji and Taizhou Huatian are to be jointly and severally liable for 8,227,977.03 yuan ($1,202,024), and 72,463.40 yuan ($10,586) in compensation, respectively.

Of these three obligations, (1) and (2) were previously fulfilled. Last week’s receipt of payment from the accused companies of the compensation specified in (3) concludes the case.

In this case, a company named "Nippon Yamaha Co., Ltd." established and registered in Japan in 2000, entered into a Trademark License Agreement with Zhejiang Huatian. Under that agreement, Zhejiang Huatian was licensed to use "Nippon Yamaha Co., Ltd." and other similar characters on motorcycles it produced in China.

“Yamaha Motor hopes that this lawsuit will serve as a useful reference somehow to other enterprises confronted with similar trademark infringements,” Yamaha said in a prepared statement. “For our part, Yamaha Motor will continuously respond to infringement of intellectual property rights in resolute attitude.”